Summer 2011

Summer finds us thinking about vacations, reaching for unread books, enjoying neighborhood farm markets, and finding new spots to stay cool.  It is also an ideal time to take a stroll across campus and be surprised and delighted by the explosion of color and spectacular plantings that are not to be missed.  The university is busier than you might imagine as we host new student orientations, welcome prospective students for a preview day to tour and learn about AU, conduct summer school, and prepare for a new freshman class and the fall semester. Beginning August 21, students will arrive back on campus. Hundreds of new freshmen will participate in a Freshman Service Experience at some 50 non-profit work sites across DC. Classes begin on August 29 with old and new faces blending together to create the rhythm of a new academic year.     

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AU Welcomes Two New Deans

Dr. James Goldgeier (left) joins the School of International Service, and Dr. Michael J. Ginzberg (right) joins the Kogod School of Business.

The fall semester will see new deans at the head of two of AU’s schools. Dr. James Goldgeier is the new dean of the School of International Service (SIS). An internationally known scholar whose research focuses on contemporary international relations and American foreign policy, he has held many appointments including at the U.S. Department of State, the National Security Council, the Brookings Institution, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He joins AU from George Washington University where he was a professor of political science and international relations. At the Kogod School of Business, we welcome Dr. Michael J. Ginzberg as the new dean. Before joining AU, Dr. Ginzberg was Associate Provost of Yeshiva University and Dean of Yeshiva’s Sy Syms School of Business and Professor of Management and Information Systems. We look forward to sharing some opportunities for our neighbors to meet them.

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Campus Plan Update

Look for profiles of AU neighbors such as museum volunteer Joanne Bauers, and why they support the Campus Plan, in The Northwest Current.

The DC Zoning Commission has held three hearings about AU’s 2011 Campus Plan. At the most recent hearing on July 14, representatives of the DC Office of Planning (OP) presented their June 2, 2011 report and answered questions from Zoning Commissioners, AU, and AU neighbors and their attorneys. The Office of Planning has recommended approval of the 2011 Campus Plan with a number of conditions. To read the OP report, click here. The two previous hearings were held on June 9 and June 23 and video recordings of the hearings are available on the DC Zoning Commission Web site.

The Zoning Commission has set three additional hearings on the AU Campus Plan for September 22, October 6, and October 13. Still on the agenda are a report from the DC Department of Transportation and cross-examination questions from AU, ANCs and neighbors; ANC reports; testimony from persons in support of the plan; testimony from parties and persons in opposition of the plan; and AU’s rebuttal and closing statement. For more information and ways to support the plan, visit the 2011 Campus Plan Web site.

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Coming this Fall - Al Forno

A new Italian trattoria, Al Forno, will open this fall at 3201 New Mexico Avenue in the former Balducci's location.  The restaurant will feature pasta, a wood-burning oven for Neapolitan pizza, and other Italian fare.  You also can enjoy meals outside on the terrace. Work on the restaurant is under way and we’ll keep you posted as they move closer to the opening date.  The new owner, who also plans to live in the neighborhood, is excited about Al Forno being located in the community.  Classic Cleaners, located currently in the front of the building, is in the process of moving to a newly-refurbished space on the first floor of the 3201 building with access to the parking lot. You can also access their shop through the building lobby.

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In the Neighborhood

Horace Mann Elementary School Summer Bash

Supporting our local schools is important to all of us in our community, and we do it in many ways. AU again lent its support to the Horace Mann Elementary School “Summer Bash” for students, families, and friends at the end of the school year. “Mann so appreciates all that AU does to enrich our community,” Ashley Pino, Summer Bash Co-Chair wrote in an e-mail after the event. This past year, during construction at Janney Elementary School, AU offered free parking for the school’s teachers and staff, and provided storage for the large steel beams for the new building until they could be moved to the site. We again participated in the wonderful Mayfair event at Turtle Park (Friendship Recreation Center). AU sponsored the face painting this year with AU staff, students, and neighbors creating some pretty amazing designs that won lots of smiles.  “You guys were great,” Mayfair coordinator Michelle Stockwell wrote in an e-mail. 

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New Sculptures Installed

Carol Brown Goldberg's outdoor sculpture, RA 055.

Work by celebrated artist Carol Brown Goldberg has been installed on the grounds of the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center on Nebraska Avenue just off Ward Circle. Larger-than-life-sized bronzes, titled RA 055, consist of two figures composed of everyday objects found, used, or purchased from thrift shops, flea markets, and hardware stores. Small sculptures from these items then were cast and recreated in bronze on a monumental scale that the artist describes as “an exciting alchemic metamorphosis.” While she is best known as a painter, Goldberg has been creating sculpture for more than 30 years and has exhibited both nationally and internationally.  So be sure to check them out when you go by the Katzen.

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Fall Art Opening

Louise Rosskam, Land Authority program. Near Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, November 1945. Gelatin silver print. 9 x 9 1/4 in. (made for Office of Information for Puerto Rico), Collection of Ani Rosskam and Susan Marchon, Roosevelt, New Jersey.

Mark your calendars for September 3 and the opening of the AU Museum’s fall 2011 exhibitions. As part of the show, you’ll have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a retrospective of Louise Rosskam’s ground-breaking photographs from America’s golden age of documentary photography. The show, Re-viewing Documentary: The Photographic Life of Louise Rosskam, explores the idea of social injustice and inequality in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.  On a local level, you’ll see her photographs of neighborhoods in Southwest Washington, DC before urban renewal. The exhibition is curated by James Madison University professor Laura Katzman and Library of Congress curator Beverly W. Brannan. Consider becoming a member of the AU museum, with members-only events, discounts at the Museum store, private tours, and more. For more information visit on memberships and the current and upcoming exhibitions, visit www.american.edu/museum.

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Kogod NOW - Upcoming Issue

Food marketing is everywhere – on TV, in magazines, on street signs, in Smartphone applications, on Facebook, in online games. What is its effect, especially on targeted and vulnerable populations, such as children and minorities?  The Kogod School of Business’ second issue of Kogod Now, a free biannual research-based digital magazine, explores this topic in its next issue. Also featured are articles on how a number of companies are shifting more R&D to the Eastern Hemisphere, and how network optimization can help hospitals limit the transmission of life-threatening diseases.  Visit www.KogodNow.com to sign up for a free subscription and for a peek at the upcoming content.

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WAMU Community Council

You may be one of the 800,000 people in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area who tune in weekly for the great programming on WAMU 88.5 FM.  We’d like to introduce you to the WAMU 88.5 Community Council. It’s the community advisory board that serves as an extra set of “eyes and ears” for the station and represents the interest of the listening public in regular meetings with the station’s staff and management.  The Community Council consists of 21 individuals who live in the WAMU 88.5 listening area and are appointed to the council for three year terms. Council meetings are held quarterly and are open to the public. The Council also sponsors off-the-record discussion meetings with community leaders and experts on a wide variety of issues of interest to the community. Interested in learning more about the Community Council? Come to its next meeting on September 21 at 7 p.m. For more information, contact Anne Healy at 202-885-1264 or send an e-mail to ahealy@wamu.org.  Stay tuned for more information about WAMU’s gala celebrating 50 years on the air on October 29, 2011 at the National Building Museum. The event will feature NPR’s Carl Kassell as master of ceremonies with tributes to station legends and entertaining anecdotes from public radio luminaries. For more information and tickets, call 202-885-3894 or e-mail galacelebration@wamu.org.

In addition to this special anniversary, we also congratulate Caryn G. Mathes, who was elected in July to the NPR Board of Directors.

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Through the Eye and Lens of an AU Professor

We’d like to occasionally introduce our neighbors to AU faculty members. Leena Jayaswal, whose family immigrated to the US from India when she was six years old, attended AU for her undergraduate studies. Years ago, her father, a cardiologist, introduced her to photography. Today, she is an accomplished photographer and a professor in AU’s School of Communication whose classes quickly fill up. She travels to India on a regular basis with her camera to document the faces and places of her roots and will be returning to document the history of her grandfather’s neighborhood, where her family has resided for centuries. She also is working on a similar series of the Petworth neighborhood in DC where she lives with her family.  For more about Leena, see a recent article profiling her in American Today.

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